Which god? Spinoza's god, perhaps? Or, your god?
"It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropomorphic concept which I cannot take seriously. I feel also not able to imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere. My views are near to those of Spinoza: admiration for the beauty of and belief in the logical simplicity of the order and harmony which we can grasp humbly and only imperfectly. I believe that we have to content ourselves with our imperfect knowledge and understanding and treat values and moral obligations as a purely human problem — the most important of all human problems."
“I cannot accept any concept of God based on the fear of life or the fear of death or blind faith. I cannot prove to you that there is no personal God, but if I were to speak of him I would be a liar.”
"As to what one could believe in, the answer was simple enough. I believe in the brotherhood of man and the uniqueness of the individual."
Einsteins Religion
"My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive With our frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible Universe, forms my idea of God.
I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms." — Quoted in the New York Times obituary April 19, 1955
"The most beautiful and deepest experience a man can have is the sense of the mysterious. It is the underlying principle of religion as well as all serious endeavour in art and science. He who never had this experience seems to me, if not dead, then at least blind. To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is a something that our mind cannot grasp and whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly and as a feeble reflection, this is religiousness.
In this sense I am religious. To me it suffices to wonder at these secrets and to attempt humbly to grasp with my mind a mere image of the lofty structure of all that there is." - Speech by Albert Einstein to the German League of Human Rights, Berlin.
“It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.” - Albert Einstein in 'Albert Einstein: The Human Side'
Religion is a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destinies.
With that we can add belief in an afterlife, worshipping and fearing a god.
We can question as to whether or not these criteria are met in the quotes above.
Is there anywhere written Einstein claims to have had a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that controls human destinies?
Other than his reference to a "illimitable superior spirit" revealed when one is able to perceive "With our frail and feeble minds", there is no mention of anything commonly believed by theists in regards to supernatural powers or human control. He refers that phrase to the observable details, that which can be perceived, not which can be imagined.
He uses the phrase "forms my idea of God" but then starts out by stating that this idea consists as a "humble admiration". Do theists see their gods as mere humble admirations?
Is there anywhere written Einstein claims to believe in an afterlife; a heaven or hell? Does he claim to live his life accordingly so as to secure himself a place in heaven and avoid those behaviours that might send him to hell?
No, in fact he goes on to say that if there was anything in him that might be considered religious, it is the "unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it."
I see no evidence whatsoever to suggest Einstein was even remotely religious.
"It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropomorphic concept which I cannot take seriously. I feel also not able to imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere. My views are near to those of Spinoza: admiration for the beauty of and belief in the logical simplicity of the order and harmony which we can grasp humbly and only imperfectly. I believe that we have to content ourselves with our imperfect knowledge and understanding and treat values and moral obligations as a purely human problem — the most important of all human problems."
“I cannot accept any concept of God based on the fear of life or the fear of death or blind faith. I cannot prove to you that there is no personal God, but if I were to speak of him I would be a liar.”
"As to what one could believe in, the answer was simple enough. I believe in the brotherhood of man and the uniqueness of the individual."
Einsteins Religion
"My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive With our frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible Universe, forms my idea of God.
I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms." — Quoted in the New York Times obituary April 19, 1955
"The most beautiful and deepest experience a man can have is the sense of the mysterious. It is the underlying principle of religion as well as all serious endeavour in art and science. He who never had this experience seems to me, if not dead, then at least blind. To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is a something that our mind cannot grasp and whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly and as a feeble reflection, this is religiousness.
In this sense I am religious. To me it suffices to wonder at these secrets and to attempt humbly to grasp with my mind a mere image of the lofty structure of all that there is." - Speech by Albert Einstein to the German League of Human Rights, Berlin.
“It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it.” - Albert Einstein in 'Albert Einstein: The Human Side'
Religion is a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destinies.
With that we can add belief in an afterlife, worshipping and fearing a god.
We can question as to whether or not these criteria are met in the quotes above.
Is there anywhere written Einstein claims to have had a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that controls human destinies?
Other than his reference to a "illimitable superior spirit" revealed when one is able to perceive "With our frail and feeble minds", there is no mention of anything commonly believed by theists in regards to supernatural powers or human control. He refers that phrase to the observable details, that which can be perceived, not which can be imagined.
He uses the phrase "forms my idea of God" but then starts out by stating that this idea consists as a "humble admiration". Do theists see their gods as mere humble admirations?
Is there anywhere written Einstein claims to believe in an afterlife; a heaven or hell? Does he claim to live his life accordingly so as to secure himself a place in heaven and avoid those behaviours that might send him to hell?
No, in fact he goes on to say that if there was anything in him that might be considered religious, it is the "unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it."
I see no evidence whatsoever to suggest Einstein was even remotely religious.